Monday, September 16, 2013

Lots of talk and comment about the new terms of service imposed upon Second Life residents, which includes the following paragraph: "...you agree to grant to Linden Lab, the non-exclusive, unrestricted,
unconditional, unlimited, worldwide, irrevocable, perpetual, and
cost-free right and license to use, copy, record, distribute, reproduce,
disclose, sell, re-sell, sublicense (through multiple levels), modify,
display, publicly perform, transmit, publish, broadcast, translate, make
derivative works of, and otherwise exploit in any manner whatsoever,
all or any portion of your User Content (and derivative works thereof),
for any purpose whatsoever in all formats, on or through any media,
software, formula, or medium now known or hereafter developed, and with
any technology or devices now known or hereafter developed, and to
advertise, market, and promote the same. You agree that the license
includes the right to copy, analyze and use any of your Content as
Linden Lab may deem necessary or desirable for purposes of debugging,
testing, or providing support or development services in connection with
the Service and future improvements to the Service."

New World Notes reports that Linden Lab respects the rights of creators in their creations and didn't intend to imply that they were about to launch the biggest rip-off resale organization in SL history. You can read their comments in that story here: http://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2013/09/linden-lab-tos-textures.html

As far as I remember the ToS has always included words to the tune of "All of your stuff belongs to us". This has just enlarged that and added a few more caveats and abilities to rip off... it doesn't mean that's what they're planning. They're just covering their asses.